Greetings! Welcome to this briefing of September 2018.
U16 girls in AFC 2nd round
Bangladesh U16 women’s team qualified for the second round of the AFC U16 Women’s Championship 2019 qualifiers. They remained unbeaten in their group.
They scored 27 goals in four games to beat Bahrain, Lebanon, UAE and Vietnam without conceding a single goal.
The Bengal Girls dominated their group with a stellar performance to make it to the second round of AFC final qualifiers from February 23 to March 3, 2019.
The other second round teams include Australia, China PR, Iran, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam.
Top four teams from the second round will qualify for the finals to be held in Thailand from September 25-28, 2019.
The teams will join Thailand (hosts), Japan, North Korea and South Korea in an 8-team fight for Asia’s crown.
Curtain rises on Bangabandhu Gold Cup Oct 1
Commemorated to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the international Bangabandhu Gold Cup 2018 will take place from October 1 to 12 at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu National Stadium, Sylhet District Stadium and Bir Shreshtha Ruhul Amin Stadium in Cox’s Bazar.
Apart from hosts Bangladesh, Palestine, Philippines, Laos, Nepal and Tajikistan will take part.
Bangladesh team had a residency camp ahead of the tournament.
In keeping with BFF’s commitment to popularise the game in all corners of the country, the group stage matches will be held in Sylhet, the semifinals in Cox’s Bazar and the final in Dhaka.
K-Sports has been given the rights to organise the tournament which will be presented by United Commercial Bank (UCB) and powered by Upay.
The broadcast partners are Bangladesh Television (BTV), Bangladesh Betar, Maasranga TV, Nagorik TV and Radio Bhumi.
U18 girls in Bhutan for SAFF Championship
Bangladesh U18 women’s team is currently in Bhutan to fight for the SAFF U18 Women’s Championship 2018.
Bangladesh is in Group B along with Pakistan and Nepal while Group A has Bhutan, India and Maldives as Sri Lanka have withdrawn from the tournament.
The team left Dhaka for Bhutan on September 26 and have already played their first group game against Pakistan on September 30 where they registered a thumping 17-0 victory over Pakistan.
Bangladesh players and staff are committed to bring home the trophy of the maiden edition of SAFF U18 Women’s Championship.
Goal difference sees Bangladesh bow out of SAFF Suzuki Cup
Bangladesh national team unluckily crashed out from the group stages of the SAFF Suzuki Cup 2018 owing to an inferior goal difference even after two victories out of three matches.
Bangladesh beat Bhutan and Pakistan before suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Nepal to bow out of the championship.
It was a SAFF campaign which could have been a dream for Bangladesh football. But we will have to be wait for the next edition to prove our mettle.
In the end, Maldives claimed their second SAFF championship beating favourites India 2-1 in the final match.
SAFF men’s U15 and women’s championship draw held
The official draw of SAFF U15 (boys) and SAFF Women’s Championship was held on September 13. The SAFF men’s U15 and women’s championships will begin on October 25 and December 17 respectively.
The men’s U15 will end on November 3 and the women’s tournament on December 26. Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are set to participate.
Meeting with DFA presidents
I met with presidents of several District Football Associations (DFA) on September 2 to discuss football development and aspects of the district football leagues.
The DFAs that have completed their football leagues successfully, were each given Tk 1 lakh, the second installment of allocation per district for the leagues. Each district that does will continue to be recognised in a similar manner.
All the 62 district association were each given Tk 1 lakh to arrange football leagues.
